The present invention relates to liquid crystal display devices and, more specifically, to a technology working effectively when a liquid crystal display panel is fixed to a backlight unit including a light guide plate, an optical sheet group, and others.
A color TFT (Thin Film Transistor) module including a small-sized liquid crystal display panel with subpixels of about 240×320×3 is widely used as a display section of portable equipment, e.g., mobile phone.
Such a liquid crystal display module generally includes a liquid crystal display panel, and a backlight unit that exposes the liquid crystal display panel to light. When the liquid crystal display module is used as a display section as portable equipment such as mobile phone, the backlight unit is configured by a resin-molded frame (hereinafter, referred to as mold), an optical sheet group, a light guide plate, a reflective sheet, and a light source. The optical sheet group and the light guide plate are disposed inside of the mold, and the reflective sheet is disposed below the light guide plate. The light source is disposed on the side surface of the light guide plate, and is exemplified by a white light-emitting diode.
FIGS. 8A to 8B are both a diagram for illustrating a liquid crystal display module of a previous type for use for mobile phones. Specifically, FIG. 8A is a plan view (viewed from the side of a liquid crystal display panel, from the front surface side, or from the side of a viewer), and FIG. 8B is a side view.
The liquid crystal display panel is configured by a pair of glass substrates (5, 6), an upper polarizer 7, and a lower polarizer (not shown). The glass substrates are facing each other with a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween, and the upper polarizer is affixed to these glass substrates. The glass substrate 6 carries thereon a semiconductor chip 12. Such a liquid crystal display panel is disposed in a mold 1.
With the liquid crystal display module of FIGS. 8A and 8B, for implementation of size and profile reduction, a flexible printed circuit (hereinafter, referred to as FPC) 11 is bent and directed to the rear surface side of the backlight unit, and then fixed thereto. The FPC 11 is equipped with electronic components such as resistance and capacitor, and a white light-emitting diode serving as a light source. Note here that, in FIGS. 8A and 8B, a reference numeral 40 denotes a clearance between the liquid crystal display panel and the mold 1.